Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
Bills look to improve care, hold Arizona assisted living facilities accountable
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — The fight to improve patient care at assisted living facilities is heating up at the state capitol.
Several bills designed to hold the facilities more accountable have been introduced and are receiving bipartisan support. Allegations of abuse, neglect and downright dysfunction continue to pop up at assisted living centers across the state.
Jennifer Awinda is a memory care facility manager who has spent 20-plus years taking care of vulnerable patients. She recently decided to walk away from the job because of the frustration of not being able to do her job. “We’re being beaten up from the top and being beaten up from the bottom, and so that’s why I took my license off the wall three months ago,” said Awinda. “I just can’t; I can’t be responsible for 100 patients with dementia when I don’t have support.” Awinda claims widespread staffing issues, a lack of training, and accountability are the biggest problems facing long-term care facilities in Arizona.
AARP of Arizona director Dana Kennedy is on the frontline fighting to improve seniors’ care. State lawmakers are considering a number of bills to improve patient care at assisted living and memory care communities. “Many of the elected officials had stories that have happened to their own families, or know somebody that this happened to,” said Kennedy. “I feel very confident that elected officials want better oversight, as well. They have to answer to constituents and this is about holding facilities accountable.”
Two bills, HB 2764 and HB 2587, passed out of the House Health and Human Services Committee Thursday. The bills call for an increase in the daily fines facilities pay when cited for violations, going up from a maximum of $500 per violation to $1,000 per person, based on the number of people impacted by the violation.
The proposals also call for onsite monitors for repeat offenders and authorize protective service workers to file for emergency orders of protection against harassment. Another bill, HB 2653, which passed out of committee Monday, would require assisted living facilities to report whenever a resident or employee is injured.
Former caregiver Jodi Fialkin, whose mother battled Alzheimer’s, is pleased to see lawmakers stepping up to protect seniors. “I am very excited by it, very encouraged by it,” said Fialkin. “We have many, many things to accomplish, to improve Alzheimer’s and dementia care, so this is a good first start.”
A number of lawmakers raised concerns that the fines proposed should be higher, which could lead to changes in the bills moving forward.
The bills will now move on to the House Rules Committee.
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In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
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